Margaux: So when are they going to change the name from Mad Men to Everybody Hates Don?
Trevor: Well, Matthew Weiner is trying to decide on either doing that as a spin-off, or a buddy cop comedy with Don and Freddy. Witty banter and the occasional digression into depressing alcoholism.
Margaux: Gotta hand it to Don, up until Bert takes a massive dump on him, he’d been handling his sobriety like a champ. Hell, I’d have taken more than one bottle of gin from Roger’s office after that interaction.
Trevor: Yeah, Bert was just rubbing it in like a dick that they put him in a dead man’s office. Shows exactly what the partners expect him to do in there: die. Then they put him on Burger Chef with Peggy, who relishes in his humiliation a little more than I’d like. They’re hoping – or rather, Lou is hoping – that they’ll butt heads and end up destroying each other.
Speaking of Lou: “I like to think of myself as a leader.” There were a lot of good one-liners in “The Monolith,” but I think I laughed the hardest at that. Lou Avery makes Michael Scott look like Warren Buffet.
Margaux: Ha! Avery takes boring incompetency to new heights, I hope one of his shitty cardigans catches fire. I did like his little bribe, it reminded me of Don throwing money at Peggy – in a nicer way. He’s trying to get her on his side, which seems to be working for now because Peggy likes to be in power. How long until Don calls Peggy out and they team up to take down Avery? Or am I way off there?
Trevor: Well, we know Peggy doesn’t like being lied to or manipulated; it’s been part and parcel of her career for so long and she’s sick of it. So at the end of the episode, when Joan says that Peggy’s raise was approved by the partners and wasn’t actually Lou’s idea, then Peggy sees Don diligently typing up tags, I think it’s pretty obvious where things will end up. Plus, look at the juxtaposition of Peggy and Dons’ offices: right next to each other. They’re literally on the same side.
Margaux: Which made their visual power struggle hilarious. I love that Don ended up with Meredith as his secretary, her giant eyes gazing him not to eat too many danishes, she’s my favorite. And all the computer construction noise getting louder as their passive aggressive bickering reached its cacophony, it was starting to give me a headache. I know that was intentional.
Trevor: Oh, absolutely. Lots of symbolism surrounding the computer, which as Roger put it, “Will do lots of magical things. Like make Harry Crane seem important.” I’ve read that there’s a lot of “original sin” imagery going on here, with the computer representing the forbidden fruit. When Mathis says “This is what made this place so special,” he was standing in (and referring to) the writers room. In accepting the computer they’ve been effectively exiled from their uptown Eden. I might be reading too far into this, but there was a shot of Caroline eating a damn apple.
Margaux: No, I got that too. Ginsberg’s outburst(s) were evidence enough, barring “I wanna try Stan, that other couch is filled with farts!” Even that was a loaded statement, if anyone is acutely aware of becoming a “sell-out to the Man” it’d be Ginsberg.
Trevor: Absolutely. Even for a show full of symbolism, “The Monolith” was a pretty heavy episode of Mad Men. I caught a lot of references to 2001: A Space Odyssey. When Don gets off the elevator, the first thing he sees is a perfectly rectangular black door, not unlike the monolith from 2001. The computer represents a crude AI that could wind up controlling all their fates, and in the most blatant example, Roger says of Don, “He’s been in that cave for three weeks and hasn’t clubbed another ape.” I think “The Monolith” is using Don as a mirror to 2001’s Dave; not so much the psychedelic journey (that’s more Roger’s forte), but rather the themes of evolution so prevalent in both the film and tonight’s episode.
Margaux: Speaking of psychedelic journeys, Margaret running away not to Bergdorf’s wasn’t the biggest shock. But how much she turned out like her Father will likely have strange ripple effects on Roger somehow.
Trevor: Yeah, I think his time on that compound really sobered him up, so to speak. Margaret – sorry, Marigold – abandoning Ellory (which, WTF kinda name is that) reminded him of how he effectively abandoned his son with Joan.
Margaux: The name Ellory makes me think of wizards and I can I just say, I highly doubt that’s Brooks’ son. I was happy Mona was there at the beginning, injecting some humor in the situation that was…awkward at best. “These people are lost and on drugs and have venereal diseases.” Is Marigold near Woodstock?
Trevor: Ha, when I saw that compound I thought “This is what Margaux’s place in Berkeley is like, I bet.” Even though I’ve been to your place. Berkeley jokes are just too easy to make.
Margaux: Ha, thanks dick. But my house in Berkeley did have electricity and zero barns. Though there were a lot of roommates with questionable facial hair. I digress, Roger really has stepped up lately, in the office and with his daughter. Whether it be his newfound openness or guilt that’s driving him, when he grabbed Marigold/Margaret and wrestled around in the mud, it was nice to see him care. Even though the conversation that followed was probably not the one he wanted to have.
Trevor:Absolutely. For all their great – fantastic, actually – comedic timing, Jon Hamm and John Slattery really nail their dramatic scenes.
On a side note, I think Lloyd summed up Don nicely, although he was talking about IBM: “They have a great product but they don’t trust it.”
(And let’s not forget that 2001’s HAL 9000 was meant to represent IBM.)
Margaux: Speaking of Lloyd, when Freddy arrives to usher Don to the baseball game they never go to, Don cannot help himself, stopping by the computer construction to make an ass of himself. It’s always effective to watch Don yell at his various “doubles”, revealing interesting tidbits about himself.
Trevor: More Biblical references, I think. Satan goes by many names, all that. Okay, I wanna talk star count because I’m really excited about “The Monolith.” I’m thinking four and a half stars. I think it’s the best episode of the season. But bittersweet because there’s only three episodes left this season, which so far is turning out great.
Margaux: I can’t believe there are only three episodes left, already. I loved “The Monolith” because it’s what Mad Men does best, illustrating how history can often repeat itself. Four and a half stars, fah sho’.
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